Shirley Lou Oren left her physical body on April 17th, 2019 surrounded by her family telling stories, sharing memories of family reunions, and reminiscing of her days of dancing to country music. Shirley was born on January 6th, 1936 to Charles and Lillian Baragar, the seventh of ten children, growing up in a full house was where she found the love of a packed home and big family gatherings. In 1953, she started her own full house, raising seven beloved children, mostly on her own as a single mother. The benefit of a large family is having plenty of mouths to feed and trying new recipes. Through trial and error, a whole lot of love, and natural talent for the culinary arts, she crafted the perfect recipe for a Cream of Broccoli Soup that would have Julia Childs asking for seconds.
As fate would have it, in the 1960’s she found her person, Paul A. Oren, and on August 8th, 1973 they were married, it was the cherry on top of her happily ever after. In 1978 Oregon called, Shirley and Paul answered and from that day, Oregonians they became. Shirley loved bowling, she REALLY LOVED BOWLING, at times she competed in five leagues a season. She was never hesitant to let you know she missed a strike, racking up a fair number of 300 games. Shirley shared her passion for bowling with her grandchildren. Bowling is great, but grandchildren are better, the little ones were the light of her life for her golden years. Grandma’s house around Christmas time was the place to be. Shirley could be found decked to the nines in her Christmas garb, decorations overflowing, delicious cookies – always warm and ready for eating (when mom wasn’t looking of course!). In Spring and Summer you could find her elbow deep in her garden, hands covered in dirt doing her part to bring more beauty to the world.
Shirley is survived by her husband Paul, her children Shirley-Jean, James, Donald, Ronald, Myrna, David, 17 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.
Shirley’s afterlife plans were simple; spending time with her daughter Donna, granddaughter Jaime, six of her brothers, and one sister.
Shirley loved thunderstorms, so when the thunder starts rolling, imagine it’s a white pearl Brunswick rolling down a freshly oiled lane, and when the lightning crashes, Shirley or Donna just got a strike.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mt. Hood Hospice in Shirley’s name.